Dear Stress, Let’s Break Up.

::Note:: Have had some great questions about the new couch, and I got the idea for the pallet couch here (Craigslist has free pallets listed quite frequently, btw). For outdoor use, we cut the depth of it down to fit crib mattresses – which are waterproof, yay! You can make any configuration you’d like; ours has two bolted together and one free to roam as either standalone seating or a ‘chaise’. Use body pillows for the back cushions, fitted crib sheets for mattress covers, and any throw pillows you’d like as accents. I’m planning to make some more modern and fun fitted crib sheets (orange and Amy Butler-esque patterned) for a twist. No freaking out if wet boys, stinky dog, or spilled food gets on anything. My kind of furniture. Cost breakdown: crib mattresses = free (a couple of friends were getting rid of theirs, and we had one of our own); pallets = free (monitor Craigslist, or ask lumber yards, landscaping places, etc., if you can have them); casters & brackets = $100; throw pillows = various. All in all, it cost about $200 to make and dress.

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Have you heard of Pinterest yet? Holy schmoley. Talk about a new and wonderful way to lose hours at a time browsing on your computer. It’s bookmarking meets visual marvelousness.

That’s where I read that up there.

Dear stress, Let’s break up.

We did that a couple of weeks ago. The stress of one income-earner juggling two full-time jobs to pull in some extra dollars and learn some new awesome social media things, but all for what, we asked? With no time or energy left over to live life itself, what’s the point? Having to miss field days at school and after-work-hours soccer practices and seeing the boys about, oh, 45 minutes every day before bedtime?

Yeah. Didn’t sound like a good idea to us, either. These boys are only little for a short time, and at this point in our lives, we are blessed (knock on wood) to be able to have this work-out-of-a-home-office gig going on.

As a timely confirmation of this good decision, Hank proclaimed that he had recently had the “best Saturday in a long time.” One without a 10-hour work day. One with a 6:45 a.m. bike ride, one-on-one time with the boys while I did some volunteer work at church, some long overdue yard work, and an awesome date night with friends.

We’re all de-stressing. None of us realized how much we had been missing each other until we all resumed that rhythm that seems most natural to us. And after two weeks of dancing along in time with that ol’ song, we’ve got it down again. Not in a take-it-for-granted kind of way, but in a my-oh-my-THIS-is-why-these-are-my-favorite-jeans kind of way. It just fits in all the right spots, worn down here and there, with a few holes and patches.

While Hank has been checking honey-do items off of his list, I’ve been digging into my own DIY one. Paint the chest? Check. Build a pallet couch? Check. (Ok. So that one Hank helped me with. A lot. Like all of it except finding the pallets and bringing them home. I like to think that THAT was the hard part. Ha.)

Powerwashing? Check. (By the way, I’m soooooo installing a drain in the middle of our house and powerwashing EVERYTHING. Ohmyword. So fun. SO SATISFYING.)

Decorating the new couch? Checkity check check check.

I think it’s gonna be our new napping spot.

Until then, I am observing my new post on the outdoor lounge-o-rama, watching my boy squirt the hose through the safety net on the trampoline at his friends, watching the one solid stream of water break apart into a wild spray that goes rogue in negative two seconds. This brings a new kind of pealing laughter that I hadn’t heard yet, the kind that dissolves into a quieter, faster chuckle as their breath escapes too fast and their eyes start to water.

This has been the best break up ever. One that will NOT be having a booty call.

P.S. If you need a Pinterest invite, let me know. I’ll send ya one.

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